Kazakhstan's Glaciers "Melting Fast" - BBC

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By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

"The political stability of a key central Asian state could be imperilled by climate change, researchers say. They say glaciers are melting so fast in parts of Kazakhstan that the livelihoods of millions of people will be affected. They found the area's glaciers were losing almost two cubic kilometres of ice annually during the later 20th Century.

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The scientists, led by Dr. Stephan Harrison of the University of Oxford, reported their findings at the anual conference of the UK's Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers.

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The team says these changes have serious implications for river runoff, and therefore for Almaty's water supply. Many of the rivers which supply the irrigation schemes essential to agriculture are fed by glaciers and permafrost in the upper ranges of the Tien Shan, so the livelihoods of millions of people will be affected.

The authors say not only Kazakh agriculture and development will be jeopardised but the political stability of a swathe of central Asia, as many of the rivers and glaciers cross state frontiers."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3077422.stm